Compact excimer laser

ABSTRACT

A compact excimer laser, including a housing structure having a plurality of walls forming an internal laser cavity. A gas is located within the laser cavity and with the gas capable of lasing action. A pair of spaced electrodes are located within the laser cavity and form an electrical discharge area between the electrodes for stimulating gas within the discharge area to lasing action in accordance with an electrical discharge between the electrodes. One of the pair of electrodes is located along a central position within the cavity and is grounded to the housing structure. The other of the pair of electrodes is located adjacent to but spaced from one of the walls of the housing structure and with the other electrode mounted on a main insulator member. The main insulator member is formed of ceramic material and is located intermediate to the one wall of the housing and the other electrode but is spaced from the one wall of the housing to have the main insulator member floating relative the housing structure. The main ceramic insulator member is compressively supported at a central position of the member and extends outward from this central position without any additional support to have the floating main insulator respond to any bending forces within the laser without any constraint other than the central support.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 144,799, filed Jan. 15, 1988,now U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,840.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a compact excimer laser useful for bothresearch and industrial applications. Although the excimer laser of thepresent invention is compact in size, it still has high overallreliability and long operational life when compared with prior artlasers.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Prior art lasers may be of many different types but the type of laser ofinterest in the present application is generally referred to as anexcimer or rare gas halide type laser. Various types of commerciallyavailable excimer lasers are constructed to use a wide variety of raregas halides such as XeCl, KrCl, ArF, KrF, XeF, etc. The use of thedifferent rare gas halides provides for the production of output energyat particular wavelengths. As an example, an excimer laser using KrF asthe gas produces output energy at the wavelength of two hundred andforty eight nanometers (248 nm).

The repetition rate of an excimer laser is generally limited to a lowrate. This is because, in a static gas system, the same gas volumecannot be excited repeatedly to produce output radiation pulses of highenergy. The production of the high energy output pulses can only occurif the gas is allowed to return to the initial thermal state betweenexcitations. This return can take considerable time, on the order of asecond. Therefore, the pulse rate for successive high energy pulses maybe limited to about one pulse per second.

In order to overcome this pulse rate limitation in an excimer laser,prior art excimer lasers use a dynamic gas system where the gas flowsthrough the excited area. The gas volume is exchanged a number of timesbetween excitations so as to allow a higher repetition rate for the highenergy pulses. The pulse repetition rate can, therefore, be increased byflowing the gas through the discharged area at relatively high speeds.

Prior art excimer lasers are also not very reliable. One problem withprior art excimer lasers is that they generally incorporate plasticinsulating material within the internal structure of the laser.Unfortunately, the plastic insulation material tends to degrade andbreak down in the presence of the laser gas and ultraviolet photons,thereby producing contaminants within the laser. Ultimately, thesecontaminants degrade the performance of the laser and the laser must beshut down for gas replenishment.

One prior art technique employed to lengthen the life of the laserbefore the laser must be shut down for replenishment is to utilize anexternal gas reprocessor to constantly provide cleaned gas to theinterior of the laser. The external gas reprocessor, for example, mayinclude a sophisticated filtering system to provide for the cleaning ofdirty gas from the laser to thereby provide for the clean filtered gasto be reintroduced into the laser, and in particular to crucial areaswithin the laser.

Because of the various difficulties with the prior art lasers describedabove, the prior art excimer lasers tend to be fairly large in size.This is because of the complexities of structures located within thelaser and because of the necessity for external equipment which must beprovided with the laser in order to insure a relatively long operationallife for the use of the laser.

Excimer lasers are increasingly located within or near clean rooms sinceone large use of eximer lasers is for semiconductor applications. Sincethe cost of providing space within a clean room is relatively high, thelarge, prior art, excimer lasers are often not cost effective. It istherefore desirable to provide for excimer lasers of as small a size aspossible. In addition, it is desirable to produce improvements in theperformance and reliability of these prior art lasers. The presentinvention is therefore directed to provide size, performance andreliability improvements in an excimer laser.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides for a compact excimer laser which hashigh overall reliability and improved performance when compared to priorart lasers. Specifically, the present invention provides for an excimerlaser which is very compact in size to thereby have a small footprintand take up a relatively small amount of space such as in a clean room.Even though compact in size, the excimer laser of the present inventionprovides for a long operational life and does not require external gasreprocessing. If such an external gas reprocessor is provided, thisprovides an even greater operational life for the laser. All of theabove is provided in a laser of the present invention having a highoverall reliability.

The laser of the present invention uses no plastic insulating materiallocated within the laser. Specifically, all of the insulating materialis provided by ceramics of various types so that there is no plastic todegrade or break down and thereby produce contamination within thelaser. The main ceramic insulator is provided in a stand-offconfiguration to thereby lengthen the path for current flow along theinsulator to insure that, during discharge between the main cathode andanode within the laser, no electrical discharge takes place along thesurface of the insulator. The specific configuration for the maininsulator insures a minimum size for the laser without sacrificing poweroutput. The main insulator is also supported in compression at a centerposition and floats out from this center position. The insulator is,therefore, held at the center position in compression to minimize thebending of the insulator during operation of the laser. Since theceramic is strong in compression but weak in bending, this particularsupport configuration insures that under load the insulator willmaintain its structural integrity.

Other inventive aspects of the compact excimer laser of the presentinvention are the provision of a filter formed as an electrostaticprecipitator to filter out a portion of the gas within the laser. Thefiltered gas is then re-introduced only to selected crucial areas toinsure that these crucial areas do not become contaminated by theparticulates produced during the firing of the laser. Specifically, theclean gas is introduced around the window areas and at particularbearing structures to insure that these areas do not become contaminatedduring the useful operational life of the laser.

Since the laser of the present invention produces a relatively lowamount of contamination because of the elimination of plasticinsulators, and since clean filtered gas is introduced at the mostcrucial areas to insure that these areas do not become contaminated,this extends the useful operational life of the laser. In order toinsure that the electrostatic precipitator, which provides for thefiltering, operates properly with a minimum size, the internal structureof the precipitator is designed to provide a laminar flow of the gas inorder to maximize the filtering by reducing turbulent mixing forcesrelative to the electrostatic forces and thereby maximizing the captureof any particulate material.

Other aspects of the compact excimer laser of the present invention isthe use of a fan located internally within the laser to provide for theproper circulation of the gas, with this fan driven in a novel way usinga brushless DC drive motor. The DC drive motor incorporates an internalsealed rotor to eliminate the necessity of providing a rotating shaftseal extending through the wall of the laser.

The compact excimer laser of the present invention, therefore,incorporates a number of novel structural elements to reduce the size ofthe laser, to enhance the reliability of the laser and to increase theperformance of the laser when compared with prior art structures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A clearer understanding of the present invention will be had withreference to the following description and drawings wherein.

FIG. 1 is an end cross sectional view of the internal structure of thecompact excimer laser of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side cross sectional view of the upper portion of thecompact excimer laser taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is one end view of the excimer laser of the present inventionfrom an external position;

FIG. 4 is a side cross sectional view of an electrostatic precipitatorused as a filter with the excimer laser of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the electrostatic precipitator ofFIG. 4 taken along lines 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the advantages of laminar flow in theelectrostatic precipitator of FIGS. 4 and 5;

FIG. 7 is a side cross sectional view of the excimer laser of thepresent invention illustrating details of the circulating fan and windowstructure;

FIG. 8 is a detailed view of FIG. 7 more clearly demonstrating thewindow structure in association with the circulating gas and as affectedby shockwaves; and

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional detailed view of the motor assembly fordriving the circulating fan.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, an excimer laser 10 of the presentinvention is formed by a pair of half housing members 12 and 14 formedof aluminum. The housing members 12 and 14 are coupled together andsealed using an "O" ring seal 16 which extends around the perimeter ofthe housing formed by the members 12 and 14. FIG. 1 illustrates theinterior of the laser showing the various components from an end viewand with FIG. 2 illustrating the top half of the laser 10.

Located within the interior chamber formed by the housing is a cathode18 and an anode 20. Located between the cathode and anode is anelectrical discharge area 22 and it is from this electrical dischargearea that high energy ultraviolet pulses generated by the firing of thelaser are produced. The high energy ultraviolet pulses that are producedare along an axis located between the cathode and anode and the axis is,therefore, in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the laser shownin FIG. 1. The electrical discharge is produced by a high voltageimpressed on the cathode 18 which may be a voltage of approximately 20kilovolts. The anode and cathode may be constructed of suitable highpurity metals chosen so as to minimize the erosion of the electrodes,and to avoid contaminating the laser gas with erosion products which doform.

An extension for and support of the anode 20 is provided by a basemember 24. Spacer member 26 extends between the cathode 18 and maininsulator plate 28. The spacer member is used to provide for anelectrical connection to the cathode 18. The spacer 26 also provides fora seal around the high voltage connection 36. The main insulator 28 isconstructed of a ceramic material such as aluminum oxide Al₂ O₃.

The upper housing member 12 includes downwardly extending wall portions30 so that the main insulator 28 is stood off from, or floating relativeto, the upper wall and surrounding portions of the upper housing member12. The spacer member 26 includes round recesses and "O" rings 32located on one side of the insulators 28 and the wall portions 30 alsoinclude recesses and "O" rings 34 located on the other side so that thecentral portion of the main insulator 28 is held between the "O" ringassembly in compression.

As described above and shown in the drawing the ceramic insulator isheld on compression between the extending wall portion 30 and the spacermember 26. This structure is advantageous since the ceramic maininsulator 28 is relatively strong in compression but is relatively weakin bending. The support structure thereby provides for the ceramicinsulator 28 to be supported at center positions in compression betweenthe spacer 26 and wall portions 30 as sealed by the "O" rings assembles32 and 34, but yet the remainder of the insulator extends outwardly toprovide for the proper insulation but unsupported so that the maininsulator is not subjected to bending forces due to gas pressures andloads.

The purpose of the ceramic main insulator 28 is to electrically insulatethe cathode 18 from the walls of the housing 12, thereby insuring thatthe proper electrical discharge takes place between the cathode 18 andanode 20. When high voltage is applied to the cathode 18 via the highvoltage connected 36, there is a tendency for undesirable currents toflow over the surface of the main insulator 28 to the grounded housingwalls 12. How well the main insulator resists this current flow dependsin part on the distance these currents have to flow (the farther thebetter), and on how close the surfaces of the main insulator are to thegrounded housing walls 12 (again, the farther the better).

The use of a floating ceramic main insulator 28 is important in thedesign of the present invention because it maximizes, for a given sizeinsulator, the distance parasitic currents must flow to reach thegrounded housing 12. If the insulator were positioned against the uppersurface of the housing 12, then the shortest path for parasitic currentsto flow would be essentially equal to the half-width of the insulator.By having the main insulator spaced away from the housing, the pathlength is doubled, since the current flow has to extend outward and thendouble back before it reaches the wall position 30. By lengthening thecurrent path without actually making the insulator larger, this allowsthe size of the laser 10 to be reduced significantly.

Of equal importance, spacing the surface of the main insulator 28 awayfrom the grounded housing 12 reduces the capacitive coupling between theparasitic surface currents and ground. In short-pulse lasers (such asthe present invention), in which the excitation is applied for veryshort durations, the capacitive coupling between the surface currentsand ground enhances the flow of current. By spacing the main insulator28 away from the housing wall 12, capacitive coupling and henceparasitic current flow is reduced. This allows a further reduction inthe size of the main insulator 28, resulting in an even more compactlaser 10.

The high voltage current to produce the electrical discharge is suppliedto the cathode 18 through a plurality of high voltage connectors 36.These connectors 36 extend down through outer support structures. Eachhigh voltage connector 36 extends through a plastic insulator 41, and itshould be noted that this insulator 41 may be made of plastic and not ofceramic material since this insulator is completely sealed from the gaswithin the interior chamber of the laser 10. As can be seen, the gas isisolated because of the "O" rings 32 and 34.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, each of the cathode 18 and anode 20 is formedas one continuous member. It should be appreciated that the cathode andanode may actually be formed of a series of members equal in number tothe groups of high voltage connectors. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 platesof ceramic material 42 are shown applied to the upper wall 12 to extendacross the upper wall at least in the end positions for the ceramicinsulator 28. These plates of ceramic material 42 insure that thecurrent path for the electrical current which is flowing along thesurface of the main insulators 28 cannot jump to the upper wall 12, butmust follow the ceramic insulator back on itself before it can begrounded by the wall portions 30. The plates 42 thereby provide thatthere is a true doubling of the current path in all directions to insurethat the size of the laser may be kept to a minimum because the ceramicinsulator 28 acts as if it were twice as wide.

FIG. 1 also illustrates, in general, a circulating path for the gas asthe laser is being operated. In particular a fan member 46 extends alongthe length of the laser and includes a plurality of blades shownschematically as four blades 48 extending along the length of the fan46. A large plurality of these blades are actually used and this type offan structure is referred to as a tangential blower. As shown by thearrows the flow of gas is up and through the electrical discharge area22 as controlled by a vane member 52.

In addition, a gas scoop 54 provides for a portion of the circulated airexiting the fan 46 to be siphoned off for filtering by a filter 56. Thisfilter may be an electrostatic precipitator, the details of which willbe described at a later portion of this application. In general, if thegas is KrF, the gas may become contaminated with metal fluorideparticles which are formed each time the laser is discharged. Each timethe laser discharges, a small amount of metal may be removed from theelectrodes and may react with the gas to produce the metal fluorideparticles. The filter 56 removes these particles and provides clean airat selected portions of the laser.

The air that has been circulated through the electrical discharge area22 becomes heated considerably by the electrical discharge and theexhaust gas thereby passes around a water cooled heat exchanger 58. Thisheat exchanger 58 removes the heat produced by the electrical dischargeas the gas passes around it. The cooled gas is now forced upwardly inaccordance with a vane 60 to again re-enter the side of the fan 46 forrecirculation. The use of the vanes 52 and 60 insures a proper stablepath for the circulating air from the fan 46 and up through thedischarge area 22 and then around the heat exchanger 58 for coolingbefore the air is again returned to the fan 46. As indicated above, aportion of the air is captured by the scoop 54 for filtering.

FIG. 3 illustrates one end view of the laser 10 with the other end viewbeing essentially similar but a mirror image. As can be seen in FIG. 3,three cap members are provided at the ends of the laser. One capsupports a window structure, generally indicated at 62, with a windowmember 64 located in the middle of the cap. As an example, the window 64may be made of magnesium fluoride which is transparent in deep UV light.In order to insure that the areas around the windows are maintained freeof particulate contaminates, clean gas from the filter 56 is injectedaround the windows to prevent particulates from depositing on thewindows.

A cap member 66 forms a support for the fan drive. One end of the laserincludes a cap which is merely a bearing support but the other end ofthe laser includes a cap which contains an integrally sealed motor in amanner to be explained in a later portion of this specification. Again,to insure that the bearing structure for the fan does not becomecontaminated, clean gas from the filter 56 is injected around thebearings of the fan 46 to again insure that no particulates cancontaminate the bearings to adversely affect the operation of thecirculating fan.

A final end cap 68 supports the heat exchanger 58. The heat exchanger 58extends from one end of the laser to the other and is a completelysealed unit. The ends of the heat exchanger 58 are sealed to the laserat external positions and with no seals within the laser. Fluid coolantis introduced through the heat exchanger to cool the circulating gasand, because the heat exchanger 58 is sealed at external positions,there can be no leaks of the coolant within the laser.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the filter 56 may be located to the side ofthe laser 10. The filter 56 may be formed as an electrostaticprecipitator to clean at least a portion of the gas and specifically toclean from this portion of the gas any particulate material which may beproduced each time the laser fires. FIG. 4 illustrates a cross sectionalview of the precipitator which extends along the length of the laser andwith FIG. 5 illustrating a cross sectional view taken along lines 5--5of FIG. 4.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 the entrance 54 from the interior of the laser10 is directed into the electrostatic precipitator filter 56. Theprecipitator is formed as a tubular member 80 enclosing a plurality ofadditional tubular members 82 which are supported by a sealing bulkhead94. Each tubular member includes an opening 84 to receive the dirty gaswhich enters through the entrance 54. A high voltage wire 86 extendsthrough each of the tubular members 82. All of these wires 86 extendfrom support members 88 which are supported by a central insulatingsupport 90. The insulating support 90 is mounted on the bulkhead 94. Thewires 86 and their support members 88 are therefore insulated from thetubes 82 and bulkheads 94, and are maintained at a high voltage. Thetubes 82 and bulkheads 94 are interconnected and grounded to the wall ofthe outer tube 80. The inner wall of the tube 80 and the bulkheads 94insure that the flow of dirty gas through the entrance 54 is directedproperly to the central openings 84 and into the tubes 82.

A high voltage input 96 provides for a high voltage connection to thewires 86 through a spring connector 98. This spring connector providesfor a proper electrical contact and yet allows the end of theprecipitator to be removed for servicing. As high voltage is appliedthrough the high voltage input 96, the wires 86 also provide for a highvoltage extending through the center of the tubular members 82. Thishigh voltage provides for an electrostatic field to filter particulatesin the dirty gas and to have these particulates deposited along theinner surfaces of the tubes 82 as shown by the deposits 100.

In addition to the electrostatic filtering, cylindrical magnets 102 arelocated on the exterior surfaces of the tubes 82 to either side of theopenings 84 to further the deposition and retention of the particulateswhich are filtered electrostaticly from the dirty gas. The dirty gas,therefore, enters through the openings 84 and with the particularmaterial deposited on the inner walls of the tubes 82 and with the cleangas exiting the tubes 82 at the end positions. The clean gas then leavesthe electrostatic filter 56 through the exit openings 104 located at theend of the filter. Dirty gas, therefore, enters through the center ofthe filter and exits from the end positions and with the clean gasdirected to the window areas and to the bearing areas as will be furtherexplained.

The structure of the electrostatic precipitator provides for anefficient filtering of the particulates since the flow of the dirty gasthrough the electrostatic precipitator is designed to have a laminarflow as opposed to a non-laminar or turbulent flow. FIG. 6 illustratesthe differences between the depositing of the particulate material onthe tubes 82 for laminar flow relative to non-laminar flow.Specifically, as shown in curves A, B, C, D and E of FIG. 6 and with alaminar flow of gas, particulates of a particular size are depositedalong the length of the tubes and with longer length tubes necessary forsmaller size particulates. The series of curves A, B, C, D and Erepresent particulates of decreasing size.

It can be seen that even for very small size particulates there is alength where all of the particulates are deposited within the tube andthe length of the electrostatic precipitator for the present inventionis sufficient to trap all particulates of sizes of concern. On the otherhand, if the flow of gas is non-laminar, as shown by curve F, someparticulates are not trapped no matter the length of the tube. In otherwords, for laminar flow of the gas, there is a length for the tube whereall size particulates of concern are trapped, whereas for non-laminarflow, no matter what the length of the tube, the trapping approaches butnever equals zero. In this invention, laminar flow is produced bycontrolling the velocity of the gas flowing in each tube, as well as thediameter of the tubes. This structure maximizes the laminar flow andthereby the efficiency for the electrostatic precipitator of a givenlength.

FIG. 7 illustrates a side view of the laser 10 showing the electrodes 18and 20 positioned within the laser housing and with the fan 46 locatedbelow. One end of the laser housing is shown to include the windowstructure or cap 62 and the drive structure or cap 66 for the fan 46. Ascan be seen, the window structure 62 is located adjacent to the ends ofthe electrodes 18 and 20 in order to allow the high energy ultravioletpulses to exit through the window structure 62.

The window structure 62 may be seen in more detail in FIG. 8 where it isshown that the window structure 62 includes a window 64 located at theend of a housing member 110. The window 64 is formed of a material whichis transparent to the wavelength of the high energy pulses so as toallow the high energy pulses to exit the window. For example, if thepulse energy has a wavelength in the deep UV, then the window 64 can beformed of magnesium fluoride.

In order to insure that the windows are kept clean, clean gas from theprecipitator 56 is injected around the window to create a constant cleangas area around the windows. This can be seen in FIG. 8 where a cleangas path through the lower laser housing 12 is shown as a pathway 112.The flow of the clean gas from the precipitator 56 is shown by the arrow114. This flow provides for the constant injection of clean gas aroundthe window. Actually, the pathway for the clean gas extends into andaround the window housing 110 as shown by pathway 116 which extendsaround the window. This insures that clean gas is injected to surroundthe window from different directions. In addition, it should be notedthat clean gas also extends down from the pathway 112 as shown byadditional pathway 118 to supply clean gas to the bearings for the fan46. This bearing structure will be described at a later portion of thisspecification.

As can be seen in detail in FIG. 8, the interior of the window structure62 includes a plurality of vanes 120. The vanes are used to attenuateshockwaves and also to provide a plurality of chambers so that any dirtygas coming into the window structure from the interior of the lasermoves in circular patterns to minimize the flow of dirty gas to thewindow 64. Essentially, as the laser is excited to produce the highenergy pulses, these excitations produce shockwaves which tend to pushany gas within the chamber into the window structure 62. It is desirableto minimize the flow of the dirty gas into the window structure 62 sincethis could contaminate the window.

The individual vanes produce a plurality of small chambers to trap thegas and force the gas to rotate within the chambers. The gas insuccessive chambers tends to rotate more slowly than the last in counterrotation to each other, thereby minimizing the flow of the dirty gasinto the window area. The vanes also tend to attenuate the shockwaves,and this combination of factors allows the introduction of a relativelylow volume of clean gas adjacent the window to counteract the flow ofthe dirty gas from the interior of the laser. The clean gas flowingtowards the interior of the chamber is shown by arrows 124. The abovedescribed structure generally allows a modest flow rate of clean gas topass over the window and still keep the window clean, even though theflow rate of clean gas is much smaller than the dirty gas within thechamber.

As the fan 46 rotates it produces a high velocity flow within thechamber. In order to minimize the velocity of this flow in the areasadjacent to the windows, vane members 126 are provided to cover the fan46 at the end portions. This effectively reduces the velocity of thedirty gas in the window areas. This reduction of velocity is shown by agraph formed by a series of arrows 128 which illustrate the velocity ofthe gas adjacent the ends of the electrodes 18 and 20 and with thisvelocity decreasing as the area adjacent the entrance to the windowstructure 62 is approached.

All of the above, therefore, provides for an efficient flow of gaswithin the laser chamber to properly circulate the gas during operationof the laser and yet allow for a minimum amount of gas to be filteredand recirculated into the laser at the most desirable positions. Thiskeeps the most crucial structures, such as the windows, clean withouthaving to clean all of the gas within the laser. In addition, eventhough the fan 46 provides for a high velocity of the movement of gaswithin the laser, the vane 126 defuses this velocity at the windowentrances to reduce the volocity so that dirty gas is not forced intothe window structure. Finally, the use of the plurality of vanes 120tends to substantially reduce the entrance of dirty gas carried along byshockwaves so that the small volume and velocity of clean gas providedby the electrostatic precipitator 56 allows for a relatively longoperational life of the laser windows.

It is desirable to rotate the fan 46 from an exterior position so thatthe actual motor assembly is not located within the laser chamber. Thisis because it would be difficult to construct a motor that could operateefficiently within the laser chamber because of the corrosive gasconditions within the chamber. As shown in FIG. 9, the fan 46 is mountedon a shaft 130. The shaft extends through a bearing structure 132mounted within the wall of the housing 12. The actual motor assembly iscontained within the housing or cap 66 shown in end view in FIG. 3.

In general, prior art structures have included exterior motors drivingthe shaft 130 in an indirect way such as through gears or pulleys. Thistype of arrangement requires that the drive shaft be equipped with arotary seal. The present invention provides for a rotor 134 beinglocated on the end of the shaft 130 and with the rotor 134 directlydriving the shaft 130 and thereby the fan 46. This provides for a muchmore efficient and direct system and eliminates the necessity of therotary sealing system which must be provided with prior art structures.

The rotary seal is eliminated since the seal is provided by a sealingmember 136 which is formed as a can of non-corroding material such asstainless steel. The sealing member 136 is mounted to the wall of thehousing member 12 using an "O" ring seal 138. It can be seen that therotor 134 is completely enclosed by the member 136 and is sealed to thewall of the housing 12. Therefore, any corrosive gas which passesthrough the bearing structure 132 is still sealed since the gas isenclosed by the member 136 and the gas can only contact the rotor 134.The rotor, however, is substantially impervious to the gas since therotor is formed by magnets covered by non-corrosive material such asstainless steel.

Surrounding the rotor 134 and the sealing member 136 is a stator 140which is a series of windings. The stator 140 and rotor 134 togetherform a brushless DC motor which operate in a normal manner. The majordifference between a normal brushless DC motor and the present inventionis the use of the sealing member 136 located between the stator androtor so that the rotor is fluid sealed relative to the stator 140. Thisstructure provides for a simple brushless motor being mounted to theside of the housing 12 to directly drive the fan 46 and yet with a sealprovided without the necessity of having this seal being a rotatingseal.

The remaining portions of the motor include a circuit board 142 todirect power from a power input connector 144 to the stator 140. Inorder to insure that the motor is properly operating, a Hall detector146 is located outside the sealing can 136 to detect the rotationalposition of the magnets within the rotor 134. A signal from the Halldetector is then fed back to the circuit board 142 to control the phaseof the power to the stator to keep the rotor in lock.

A cover plate 152 may be positioned at the end of the housing 66 tofinish the enclosure structure. It can be seen that the entire rotorassembly is mounted at the exterior of the laser chamber without anyfurther external drive such as through pulleys or gears and yet with therotor being completely sealed relative to the stator. The only movingparts subjected to the corrosive gas within the laser are the rotor andfan itself. As indicated above, this structure completely eliminates thenecessity for providing for rotating seals.

It can be seen, therefore, that the present invention provides for acompact excimer laser which essentially eliminates the use of plasticinsulators and provides for ceramic insulators which do not degrade andbreak down as do plastic insulators, so as to minimize the production ofcontaminants. The use of all ceramic insulating material within thelaser greatly increases the overall reliability of the laser. Becausethere are much less breakdowns and contaminants within the laser, thisminimizes the necessity to have an external gas reprocessor as withprior art lasers. The minimal production of contaminants in the presentinvention only necessitates the cleaning of a portion of the gas andsubsequent diversion of this clean gas to important areas, such as thewindow areas and the bearing areas. In addition to the above, thespecific configuration for the laser of the present invention, includingthe floating insulator structure, allows for the laser to be reduced toa small size. Even with this small size, the laser of the presentinvention provides for efficient operation.

All of the above advantages, and additional ones such as the use of anelectrostatic precipitator and an integral brushless DC motor design,provide for a superior structure for the compact excimer laser of thepresent invention. Although the laser has been described with referenceto a particular embodiment, it is to be appreciated that variousadaptations and modifications may be made and the invention is only tobe limited by the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. A compact excimer laser, includinga housing structure havinga plurality of walls forming an internal laser cavity, a gas locatedwithin the laser cavity and with the gas capable of lasing action, apair of spaced electrodes located within the laser cavity and forming anelectrical discharge area between the electrodes for stimulating gaswithin the discharge area to lasing action in accorance with anelectrical discharge between the electrodes, one of the pair ofelectrodes located along a central position within the cavity andgrounded to the housing structure, the other of the pair of electrodeslocated adjacent to one of the walls of the housing structure, arotating fan located within the laser cavity for circulating the gasthrough the discharge area, a brushless DC motor coupled to the fan forproviding rotation of the fan, and the fan including a shaft and whereinthe brushless DC motor is formed by a rotor and a stator and with therotor coupled to the fan shaft and additionally including a sealingmember interposed between the rotor and stator to enclose the rotor andwith the sealing member sealed to the housing structure to have therotor effectively sealed within the gas environment and the statorwithout the gas environment so as to eliminate rotating seals for themotor drive through the housing structure.
 2. The compact excimer laserof claim 1 additionally including a heat exchanger located within thelaser cavity to remove heat produced by the electrical discharge andadditionally including vane members located within the laser cavity todirect circulating gas through the discharge area and around asubstantial portion of the heat exchanger and back to the fan forcontinuous circulation.
 3. The compact excimer laser of claim 1 whereina portion of the circulated gas is captured and filtered to provide avolume of clean gas and with the clean gas supplied to selected portionsof the laser.
 4. The compact excimer laser of claim 3 wherein the laserincludes window structures located at end portions of the housingstructure and with the clean gas supplied within the window structures.5. The compact excimer laser of claim 3 wherein the fan shaft issupported for rotation by bearing structures and with the clean gassupplied within the bearing structures.
 6. The compact excimer laser ofclaim 3 additionally including an electrostatic precipitator and whereinthe captured portion of the circulated gas is filtered by theelectrostatic precipitator.
 7. The compact excimer laser of claim 6wherein the electrostatic precipitator is formed by a plurality ofparallel tubular members each having a high voltage wire running througha tubular member and with each tubular member including an entrance forthe gas at a middle position of each tubular member and exits at theends of each tubular member to provide a laminar flow of the gas fromthe middle to the ends of the each tubular member to depositparticulates in the gas on the inner wall of each tubular member.
 8. Thecompact excimer laser of claim 7 additionally including magnets locatedon the outer wall of each tubular member to assist in the attracting andretention of the particulates.
 9. The compact excimer laser of claim 1wherein the additionally other electrode is adjacent to but spaced fromone of the walls of the housing structure and with the other electrodemounted on a main insulator member, the main insulator member formed ofceramic material and located intermediate to the one wall of the housingand the other electrode but spaced from the one wall of the housing tohave the main insulator member floating relative to the housingstructure.
 10. The compact excimer laser of claim 26 wherein the mainceramic insulator member is compressively supported at a centralposition of the member and extends outward from this central positionwithout any additional support to have the floating main insulatorrespond to any bending forces within the laser without any constraintother than the central support, and wherein the housing structure isformed of two half housing members joined to form the laser cavity andwith the one electrode supported by a support member mounted by thejoining of the half housing members.
 11. The compact excimer laser ofclaim 9 wherein the one wall of the housing includes inwardly extendingwall portions to form an integral spacer support for the main insulatorfrom the one wall on one side of the main insulator.
 12. The compactexcimer laser of claim 9 including an additional ceramic materiallocated on the one wall opposite the main insulation to preventelevational discharge between the main insulator and the one wall. 13.The compact excimer laser of claim 1 additionally including vane memberslocated within the laser cavity for directing the circulating gasthrough the discharge area.
 14. The compact excimer laser of claim 13including an additional spacer member located on the other side of themain insulator between the main insulator and the other electrode tohave the main insulator supported between the extending wall portionsand the spacer member.
 15. The compact excimer laser of claim 14additionally including O-ring seals on both sides of the main insulatorand located between the main insulator and the extending wall portionsand between the main insulator and the spacer member.